Scales and Tales II: The Rise of Darskin
by abstow89
Summary: When a new enemy appears to threaten the peace in Lore, Brihart and his friends soon realize that their lives are in danger and that they must stop this villain by any means necessary.
1. Awkward Introduction

_**Scales and Tales II: The Rise of Darskin**_

**A/N: Okay, so the sequel to the original **_**Scales and Tales**_** is finally here. Now obviously I can't give away the plot right here, but as some of you have noticed from the original story's final chapter, I plan on making this story darker. And possibly grosser. Of course, it's still gonna have toilet humor and comedy and all that good stuff, but unlike the first story (which was just random shenanigans), this story's going to have a plot to it, and a villain for that matter. Some of the "toilet" content won't be humorous, but will instead be flat-out gross and possibly related to bodily fluids or some kind of corpse. Characters will be involved in situations that could result in their deaths, and not everyone is going to make it to the end without suffering some kind of "scar." That's all I'll say for now; I'll let the story do the rest of the talking.**

**Rated T for language, crude humor, toilet humor, character deaths, and some disgusting/disturbing scenes.**

_Awkward Introduction_

She always loved butterflies. She didn't know why, but she always thought about catching one and keeping the creature all to herself. The young energy dragon giggled as she flapped her wings and saw the butterfly flutter by her muzzle. She raised her front paws and tried to swipe at it, only for the insect to quickly move out the way. She knew she was supposed to be back with her family; the last time she wandered this far away, she almost entered the perimeter of Dragonstone Mountain and attracted a few dragonslayers. But she was being careful today—careful enough to make sure she scanned the perimeter for any wandering dragonslayers. But she didn't bother to look up at the cloudy sky. If she had, she might've noticed the colossal black entity flapping its wings and hovering around the area. The yellow creature almost caught the butterfly when her wings got tired and she huffed and stopped flapping. The dragon landed on the ground and observed the insect as it flew away.

"Darn it! Guess I'll have to snag a different one later," said the energy dragon with disappointment.

The young dragon turned around and began to walk home, knowing her parents would be getting worried. But shortly after beginning her journey, the huge entity flying in the sky zipped in front of her, causing her to scream. She hopped backwards and started to pant heavily before the entity looped in the air, flew in front of her again, and hovered its wings in the air. It looked down at the energy dragon for a moment before landing on the grass with a hard thud. The energy dragon gasped as she looked at the behemoth standing in front of her. It was a darkness dragon, with sleek scales as black as night. Its teeth and claws were serrated, sharp enough to cut through flesh. The dragon's left horn had been cut in half, and its right eye was missing. The young energy dragon assumed it was some kind of warrior dragon that had seen one too many battles, judging by all the scars around its body. The dragon blinked and smiled as it looked down at the yellow reptile.

"Hello there, little one."

The energy dragon could tell it was male by the deep voice alone. "H…hi," said the energy dragon meekly.

The black dragon looked closely at the yellow dragon and noticed that she was shaking a little.

"Oh my, I didn't frighten you, did I?"

"Well…y-yeah, a little."

The darkness dragon chuckled. "There's no need to be scared of me, hatchling. …Although judging by your face, I can see you won't stop looking at my right eye socket. Didn't your parents teach you that it's impolite to stare?"

The energy dragon looked down at the ground in shame as she shuffled her paws around awkwardly. The black dragon sighed as he began to wag his tail.

"It's okay; I know I'm ugly. I'm sure I'd stare too if I was your age."

There was a pause, and then the darkness dragon smiled again and changed the conversation.

"Do you know who I am, hatchling?"

The energy dragon looked up at the darkness dragon and shook her head. The black dragon chuckled again.

"You sure?"

"Yeah…I don't think I remember you at all."

The energy dragon became concerned when the black dragon's kind smile slowly spread along the creature's muzzle, turning into a devious grin. "That's okay, little one. You'll know it soon enough…you and all of Lore will remember my name and who I am, what I've done. Hehe…what I'm _going_ to do."

The oversized darkness dragon started to walk around the young energy dragon, leaving huge paw prints in the ground. The adolescent reptile tried to back away, but the strange dragon seemed to always block her path, no matter which way she went. Eventually, the black dragon sat down and wagged his tail as he stared at the hatchling.

"What's your name, little one?"

"Err, I-I shouldn't tell you, you being a stranger and all."

"But we're both dragons! That makes us buddies! And we dragons need to stick together for when we run into dragonslayers and other hostile humans, wouldn't you agree?"

The young dragon huffed. "My name's Edith. I'm not a baby energy dragon, but I'm not a full-grown one either."

"That's a lovely name. Mine's Darskin."

There was a paused, and then Darskin grinned.

"Are you hungry, little one?"

The energy dragon nodded. "I could eat something."

Darskin laughed deeply. "Good! I've got a meal ready just for you!"

Edith watched as the giant black dragon turned around slowly and spread his hind legs apart. At first, Edith didn't know what the dragon was doing. But then she heard a disgusting sputtering sound that lasted for a few seconds. The dragon backed away and scowled, knowing that Darskin just passed gas right in front of her. Then she watched as Darskin quickly lifted his tail and sighed. He released a few more small farts that didn't stink as much as the initial gas blast before he loosened his bowels. Edith observed the spectacle with wide eyes. Darskin's tailhole quickly bulged outwards and expanded, and a large amount of brown waste slithered out. Edith wanted to turn away, but she was so stunned and appalled by Darskin's grotesque act that she couldn't help _but_ look. She could hear the filth crackling, she could see it coiling around to the ground, and she could smell the heady stench that made her gag. When Darskin finished, the black dragon sighed with relief, wiggled his giant rump, turned back around, and lowered his tail.

"There you go! Eat up!"

Edith looked at the steamy pile of dragon excrement. "Y-you want me to eat _that_?!"

"Absolutely."

"That's absurd and disgusting! Dragon feces? Why in the world would I eat that?! Why would _any_ living creature eat it?!"

"Because it's good for you. It's full of vitamins that'll help you grow big and strong and help your stomach absorb nutrients! In a way, it's no different than your parents telling you to drink milk or orange juice. Gotta love those vitamins!"

"That's crazy! Even if what you're saying is true, it's poop! I can't eat something that came out your butt!"

The darkness dragon growled as he began to circle around the energy dragon again. "What if I told you that you _had_ to eat it, or else you would die? Hmm? What would you do then?"

Edith whimpered. "Wh…what?"

Darskin stood in front of the yellow dragon and began to speak. "That's what I did. My family was very poor, and we grew up in a cesspool where it was very hard to find water or food that wasn't contaminated with some disease or sickness. So it was hard for us to find animals to hunt. I still remember how it all started… One night, my dad walked in front of me and my sister. Then he simply turned around, squatted, and defecated right in front of us, just like I did to you now. He said, 'eat,' but we didn't understand. He gestured towards the excrement and said 'eat' again. Of course, we didn't do it. So my father beat us, yelled at us, said we were ungrateful little shits who don't deserve this 'luxury' as he put it. So my sister and I went to sleep that night, bruised, scarred, our tummies grumbling after going a whole day without food."

Darskin paused and sighed. "So the next day, we do find food, but only our parents eat it. Dad came to us again, defecated, told us to eat, just like before. …And we did. Neither of us even hesitated. Of course, we threw up afterwards, but that was only natural. The next time he did it, we gagged and retched, but we kept it down. After a while, eating feces was no big deal to us. My father was so proud of how well we ate his shit that he eventually let us eat regular meat. So you see…consuming shit is no big deal really. I did what I had to do to survive, so I wouldn't starve to death. And now here I am, strong, proud, large, and all because I had the courage to do what was necessary to keep living!"

Darskin stared at the energy dragon and gestured towards the excrement again. "So go on: eat. It's getting cold, y'know."

Edith whimpered and began to shake. She could tell by the reptile's smirk that he was prepared to beat her if she didn't listen to him. But as justifiable as Darskin's story was, she wasn't like him. She wasn't poor. She knew how to find food. She had a belly that was currently filled with gases, fluids and digesting meat. There was no need to eat the dragon's fecal matter.

"I can't…I-I know you said you-you had to do it when you were young…but I don't need to. I'm just…no, I'm not doing it!"

Darskin sighed heavily and shook his head. "You hatchlings. Pampered by your parents. I bet none of you can even fathom what it's like to grow up when times are tough."

Darskin turned around and looked down at the waste he deposited on the ground. He licked his choppers and snickered.

"Really would be a shame to let this go to waste…"

Edith couldn't look. She quickly turned away and retched as the black dragon started to chew. It didn't take him long before he finished, and by the time he did, Edith was still gagging and forcing herself not to puke all over the ground. Darskin smirked and licked his teeth clean before he walked in front of the energy dragon and sat down again.

"…You're disgusting," muttered the hatchling.

Darskin didn't respond. He simply wagged his tail as he kept staring at the young hatchling. The dragon growled before he lowered his head and flared his nostrils a few times, breathing in the creature's scent.

"How old are you, Edith?"

Edith backed away and gagged again. The darkness dragon's breath reeked of his excrement, and the stench was flooding Edith's nostrils.

"I…what does that matter?"

Darskin didn't say anything. He kept staring at the dragon with his one eye, his grin becoming wider and wider. The energy dragon didn't notice it at first, but saliva was sliding out the corners of Darskin's mouth and dripping onto the ground. He blinked and flared his nostrils again. The black reptile walked around Edith again, sniffing her constantly, his snout almost touching her scales. Edith should've been running a long time ago, but she couldn't do it. Her legs were shaking too much. The thought of what this dragon could do to her if she antagonized him too much was too horrible to imagine. Something told her that if she ran, then this dragon would do whatever he intended on doing right here and now. Darskin licked his teeth again, with more slobber coming from his maw.

"Are you, uh…developing yet?"

Edith sobbed and backed away, utterly terrified now. Darskin lowered his head and stuck his muzzle in Edith's face. She didn't even care about his foul breath anymore; what Darskin was implying was too grim, too disturbing.

"Answer. Now," he growled.

The hatchling started to pee all over the ground, her urine splashing audibly and getting her hind paws wet. She didn't want to look like a coward in front of the dragon, but it was too late now. She was sniffling softly as a few tears filled her eyes, and she just peed all over the ground in fright. She couldn't stay here any longer. She had to get away. The energy dragon turned around and started to flap her wings as she sprinted.

"DAD!" she screamed.

The darkness dragon watched as the adolescent dragon tried to run and flap away, but it all proved to be futile when Darskin lunged forward and chomped down on her tail. Edith shouted as she was jerked around through the air and slammed on the ground hard. Edith landed on her abdomen and could see the various trees not far from Dragonstone. Panting and whimpering, she got back up and sprinted towards the woods again, away from Dragonstone and Darskin.

"DAD! DAAAAD!"

The trees began to rustle just as Darskin started to chase after the shorter energy dragon. Something obscured by all the trees grumbled to itself as it began to move through the branches.

"Damn it, Edith, I've told you several times not to—"

Everything seemed to pause when the older, and much larger energy dragon came out of the woods. The moment he saw the black dragon and his daughter rushing towards him, his eyes grew wide. Darskin stopped chasing after the young reptile and instead snorted. He looked up at the fatherly figure and blinked.

"Ah! You must be the hatchling's father."

"Wh…" The older energy dragon looked down at his whimpering daughter before he looked back up at the one-eyed black dragon and growled viciously.

"What did you do to my daughter?!"

Darskin shook his head. "Nothing at all. I only asked her a few questions and told her about how brutal life was for me growing up. Isn't that right, little one?"

"Don't speak to her!" the yellow dragon snarled. "Edith, did this dragon touch you?"

"He-he…he tried to…I think—"

"You can stop; I understand now."

The energy dragon stepped so close to the darkness dragon that their chests were nearly touching. Even though Edith's father was a fully-grown dragon, he was still shorter than Darskin when he stood beside him. Darskin looked down at the yellow reptile so they made eye contact.

"You listen to me you little shit," growled the old energy dragon. "The only reason why I am not ripping your throat out is because you're traumatized my daughter enough already, and she doesn't need to see that. So I'm only gonna say this once: leave this side of Lore. If I even see a glimpse of you around here, I will kill you."

Darskin lowered his head so that his muzzle was brushing against Edith's father's muzzle. The yellow dragon didn't even care that Darskin's breath stank; he stayed where he was and didn't show any fear.

"You _should_ kill me now. In fact, if you want to ensure the safety of your family, you _will_ kill me. Right here. Right now. In front of your daughter."

Darskin laughed as he took two steps forward. Edith's father found himself walking backwards, even though he wasn't intentionally trying to.

"If you don't kill me, you wanna know what's gonna happen? When you least expect it…I'm gonna find you. My dragons will find you. I'm gonna pin you down and slice you open from your throat to your cloaca. Then me and my dragons will take turns raping your mate until she's bleeding from every orifice, and I'll kill her too. Hehehe, then I'll find your daughter while she's all alone and has no one else to depend on, and the two of us will become the best of friends."

Darskin glanced over at Edith and grinned. "Would you like that, little one? If we became friends?"

"I said don't—"

"Then kill me. Strike me down before it's too late."

Darskin and Edith's father stared at each other for a very long time. The one-eyed darkness dragon grinned the entire time, while Edith's father could only breathe heavily as he stared at the reptile. Whoever this dragon was, he was pure evil, and he seemed to enjoy tormenting others just for his own amusement. Darskin knew Edith's father wouldn't kill him; he wasn't strong enough, and deep down Darskin had a feeling that he was just as frightened as his daughter. The black dragon laughed as he snorted in the older yellow dragon's face.

"That's what I thought. Cowardice: a disease that's spreading throughout all the species nowadays. Hmph, that'll have to change, and soon. Like all diseases, it must be eradicated, even if the hosts must be destroyed in the process."

Darskin turned around as he scraped his hind paws against the ground, kicking up dirt and grass in Edith's father's face. He spread his wings as he started to take flight.

"I'll be seeing you again _real_ soon, Edith!"

Edith's father didn't have time to say anything before Darskin was in the air flying away. After the dragon left, Edith rushed towards her father's side and started crying as she shook and rubbed her muzzle against his body. But as much as Edith's father didn't want to admit it, he _was_ terrified. Whoever this Darskin dragon was, he sounded like his threats were serious. And if so, then Edith and her family weren't the only ones in danger. The citizens of Lore needed to know about Darskin, and fast.


	2. Seeking Answers

_Seeking Answers_

All the zards were scattered about, some hanging from trees, others torn apart, and some were even crushed into the ground. Over yonder were tadzards that had been fried to a crisp, their limp bodies still releasing smoke. In a wide open area near what used to be a campfire, an oversized blizZard was lying next to a boulder with its innards hanging out. Yet despite all the dead zards, there were still several more to come. Melzar the guardian dragon found that out the hard way as he panted and limped his way through various bushes and trees. He had multiple bite marks and scratches on his body, but it was all nothing he couldn't handle. Melzar stopped limping so he could sit down and catch his breath. The guardian dragon breathed heavily and shut his eyes, letting his heart rate slow down and shaking some of the sweat off his face. But his moment of relaxation was very brief, as the guardian dragon heard more screeching and snarling in the distance. It wasn't long before a giant ball of ice and snow hit him against his snout, and soon enough, Melzar saw more blizZards and tadzards sprinting along the ground.

"Oh, come on, zards!" said Melzar with frustration.

The guardian dragon stood on all fours and lowered his head and neck. He felt the heat from within and immediately opened his mouth, unleashing his fiery breath onto the monsters. All of them disappeared within the flames, screeching and running around on fire, desperately trying to find a source of water. Some tadzards managed to extinguish the flames, but not before various blizZards keeled over. Melzar stomped towards one tadzard and chomped down on it, digging his teeth into its flesh. He picked up the tadzard and hurled it into the air, watching as it sailed through the skies. Then the dragon spun around, swiping his tail at the zards and knocking many of them down like a stack of perfectly placed boxes. Melzar roared as he lifted his right left paw and stomped on a blizZard, then jerked his head sideways and munched on a second one. The second after Melzar bit the zard's head in half, he shouted when two blizZard's caught him off-guard and pounced on his long neck. One zard bit into his flesh, while the other one dug its long, deadly claws into the scales and meat. Melzar shouted with fury as he lifted his neck and head high, flailing around as he tried to shake the annoying little creatures off. And to make the situation worse, more blizZards were coming.

"Looks like you could use my help!"

Melzar looked up into the sky and saw a red dragon swoop down and land on the ground with a hard thud. The guardian dragon could already tell by the cocky smile that the dragon was Brihart. The flame dragon saw the dozen blizZards sprinting towards them and promptly opened his mouth. He reeled his head and let the fire build within before he immediately jerked his head forward and released dozens of flames from his maw. The blizZards were all set ablaze within seconds, and most of them collapsed to the ground without putting up much of a fight. Brihart blew out a small amount of smoke before he looked around the forest. From what it looked like, most of the zards had been taken care of.

"Is that all of 'em?" the dragon asked.

Melzar grunted as the zards on his neck kept pestering him. "As far as I know! Just get these things off me!"

Brihart walked close to the dragon's long neck and grinned.

"Hey, don't use your fire breath; the last thing I need is to take damage too."

"Hehe, who said I was going to?"

Brihart walked closer to the two zards and slowly opened his slobbery maw. The zards paused and looked over at the flame dragon's disgusting mouth, realizing they were about to be fried alive. Suddenly, Brihart exhaled harshly, his steamy breath coming out slowly and washing over the zards. The second the zards breathed in the stench of Brihart's breath, it was over. It only took a few seconds before the zards became lightheaded, dizzy. They groaned and let out a sluggish hiss before letting go of Melzar's neck and falling to the ground. Melzar sighed after the zards let go of him and shook some of the zards' slobber from his neck.

"Ugh, unorthodox…but I can't argue about the results."

Brihart chuckled. "May as well put my halitosis to good use!"

Melzar sighed. "Now if only your breath had the power of magically locating this knight we're looking for. Did you see him—"

There was no need for Melzar to continue. The man who was in command of the horde of zards stepped out of the forest, shouting as he gripped his sword tightly with both hands. Brihart and Melzar turned around and saw the knight clad in his dark blue armor from head to toe. His breath was hollow as he exhaled through the slits in his helmet. The knight growled with frustration as he looked at all the zards around him.

"You…you've ruined it all! Do you know how long I spent thinking up this evil plan?!"

"Yeah, two minutes. What kind of idiot thinks it's a good idea to attack the forest with water and ice-based zards when he knows damn well there's a clan of ravenous earth dragons a mile away? I'm surprised you didn't wake any of them!" said Brihart.

"Enough of your jabbering you dastardly beast! YOU DIE NOW!"

Melzar and Brihart listened to the knight roar underneath his dark blue helmet. He raised his sword high before flinging it right at Melzar's head. The sword twirled around, steadily getting closer and closer to the reptile's massive cranium, ready to impale the beast in the skull. Luckily for Melzar, the flat side of the sword wound up bouncing off his head, as opposed to any of the edges. Melzar didn't even blink as the sword bonked him in the face and then clattered on the ground. Melzar and Brihart looked down at the fallen sword before looking back up at the knight with a raised eyebrow. The knight huffed beneath his helmet and twiddled his thumbs.

"Err…can I try that again?"

"No!" shouted Melzar, annoyed.

The guardian dragon swiped the knight's sword away with his front left paw, leaving the knight defenseless. Both reptiles growled as they took a step towards the human being. Seconds later, he shouted, turned around, and stared to run away. But the guardian dragon had swift reflexes, and he managed to hop forward and grab the knight in his mouth. The knight shouted and began to flail his arms and legs around as he felt Melzar's slobber dripping onto his armor and soaking into his chain mail. Melzar raised the knight high off the ground and held him in front of Brihart as though he were a bone. The flame dragon sat down, raised his right front paw, and clawed the knight's helmet off. The knight shouted once his identity was revealed, showing off a bald-headed man with claw-like scars going down his face. The man took a few deep breaths as he had a clearer view of the position he was in and the two dragons who were assaulting him.

"PUT ME DOWN! Do any of you dragons know who I am?! I'M ALGRIN TAIVON GANNITYRE III, TAMER OF ZARDS AND SON OF ALGRIN GANNITYRE II!"

"Good for you. I'm Brihart, Lord of Fiery Flatulence and Champion of Bad Breath. You gonna give me a cookie for the special title I pulled out of my ass too?"

Algrin snarled. "Let go of me! Your drool is soaking into my armor!"

Brihart licked his choppers as he walked directly beside the knight's head, breathing heavily with his mouth open.

"You're gonna tell us why you sent all these zards into this forest! You tried to attack the both of us—one of whom is a guardian dragon—and you slaughtered innocent woodland critters for no reason! You're not going anywhere until you start talking!"

Algrin turned his head away and gagged, appalled by the sight of Brihart's gaping maw and the saliva running down his chin.

"Get away you foul beast! Your breath is—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, my breath stinks. Heard it a million times pal! Now tell us what you were doing here with these ravenous and lethal zards or my breath is gonna be the last thing you smell!"

The bald knight snickered. "If that's the way it has to be, then fine! I already lived five years longer than I thought I would! So if you wanna kill me, go ahead! Ain't nothing you can do to me that'll get me to cooperate with you disgusting creatures!"

Brihart flashed another cocky smirk. "I seriously doubt that. Drop him, Melzar!"

Melzar's definition of "drop" was to jerk his head down and open his mouth. He let the knight fall out his maw so fast that he wound up slamming into the ground. Algrin mumbled something as his head spun and he felt the bones in his body rattling. The bald knight was still trying to recover his strength and only had enough energy to sluggishly roll over onto his back. Shortly after he rolled over, Brihart casually walked over to him and turned around. Algrin noticed that Brihart's entire backside and tail were blocking out the sun like a menacing shadow. The flame dragon backed up again so his posterior was hovering above the villain's head. Algrin could already tell where this was going and quickly tried to sit up. But Brihart's rump was faster, and the dragon grinned as he sat down on the knight's face. Algrin shouted beneath the red beast's smelly rump and started to wiggle his arms and legs frantically, hoping to find a safe (and fresh-smelling) haven. Melzar raised an eyebrow as he observed the dragon "torturing" Algrin Gannityre III.

"Hope you enjoy it down there! Been a while since I had my cloaca washed!"

That much was true. Brihart still had flakes of dung caked around his posterior, and the foul smell of dried excrement was definitely getting to Algrin. Brihart sighed as he wiggled his backside, smearing the sweat that had formed around his rear end along the human being's face. After the brief bit of torture, Brihart lifted his rump so Algrin could get some fresh air. Melzar walked towards the knight as he took a huge breath and blinked.

"So are you gonna talk now, or is my friend here gonna have to sit on you again?"

Algrin took a few deep breaths before he glanced over at Melzar and snorted.

"Go to hell you fu—"

Algrin shouted again when he was interrupted by Brihart's heavy ass. The flame dragon sat down and smiled as he wiggled his butt again. The odor was getting worse now as Algrin felt some of the tiny flakes of waste getting onto his face. He couldn't even scream with disgust because he didn't want to risk having any of the dung get into his mouth. But there was no way he could prevent any of the smelly substance from getting onto his skin and precious armor. And the unbearable stench was enough to make anyone gag. The slick sweat and the crusty texture of the slurry made Algrin sick to his stomach. And then, suddenly, Algrin heard Brihart grunting as his tailhole slowly began to bulge outwards.

"Come on…come on!" said Brihart as he gritted his teeth.

Algrin could already tell what the dragon was trying to do. He could almost smell what was festering within Brihart's bowels now, and a faint sulfur stench began to fill his nostrils. A small gust of hot air gently brushed against Algrin's nose, and the human being started to retch. But shortly after the gust ended, Brihart exhaled and growled with frustration.

"Damnit! I coulda sworn that was gonna be a big one!"

Melzar couldn't help but smirk and remember what he did to those orcs who robbed the citizens of Granemore. Sure, his tactics were revolting, but ever since he fooled those orcs into eating those sandwiches laced with a laxative-like substance, they haven't harmed or tormented any innocents. The guardian dragon knew that with enough "persuasion," Brihart's methods would get the knight to crack. After pushing out the tiny fart and rubbing his rump along Algrin's face for another few seconds, Brihart stood on all fours and raised his ass. Algrin coughed several times and gagged as he started to wipe the filth from his face. Melzar stared at the knight with a cheeky grin and snickered.

"Better start talking now, Algrin. If you taunt Brihart again, there's no telling what may come out his backside next."

The knight let out a tiny giggle. "There's…there's nothin' you can do to change my mind."

Melzar blinked and looked at Brihart. "Okay then. Round three it is!"

Algrin stared at Brihart's descending derrière with wide eyes. He caved almost instantly.

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, STOP!"

Brihart stopped, his funky rump just a few inches away from Algrin's head. Melzar chuckled.

"So are you ready to talk now or what?"

Algrin huffed and shook his head slowly. "Won't matter anyway. Hehe, you dragons just wasted your time!"

The red dragon blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you think my plan is so 'dumb' to you dragons? I honestly couldn't give a BURP's ass what you think! In the end, this was all just a diversion, and it worked!"

Melzar slowly frowned. Brihart realized the knight was telling the truth and saw no point in tormenting him anymore. The flame dragon turned around and faced him.

"You mean you had no intention of doing anything devious with these zards?"

"Oh no, I did! Killed a buncha innocent creatures, didn't I? But there was no point behind this attack! It was supposed to be haphazard; he knew that if I caused a big enough commotion, those guardians over in Battleon would send someone to investigate, and they did!"

Melzar closed his eyes and sighed with frustration. He should've known better. Algrin's plan was out of the ordinary right from the start. But the guardian dragon couldn't spend the rest of the day beating himself up over the mistake he and Brihart made. There was still a chance to uncover more information.

"If this was all a ruse, then what's your real plan? Who is this 'he' you just referred to?"

Algrin shook his head. "I don't know—ACK!"

Algrin started to breathe heavily when Brihart stepped forward, stomping his right front paw onto the man's armor. Brihart growled gutturally as he slowly began to apply more pressure, curling his toes and causing his long claws to scrape against Algrin's armor.

"We're done playing your games. Tell us who you answer to or you'll spend the rest of your life being a chewed up piece of gum stuck to my paw!"

Algrin shouted with agony when Brihart applied more pressure. With all that armor on, it felt as though the knight was trapped inside a tiny metal box that was slowly caving inwards, compressing itself while he was still inside. Melzar could see the way the flame dragon was torturing the knight and became concerned.

"That's enough, Brihart! He's not gonna talk if you crush all his ribs!"

Algrin whined and screamed when Brihart kept pressing down. He could've sworn he felt (and even heard) a few bones in his body popping, like he was the prey of a sneak slowly being squeezed to death around the beast's scaly body.

"DRAKEL! THE DRAKEL!"

Brihart blinked and stopped pressing down. "Drakel huh? What do they have against the wind dragons?"

"I don't know!"

"Bullshit! A friend of mine was torn apart just a week ago by some savage beast! What did the Drakel do to him?!"

"I-I honestly don't know! I don't even know the name of the Drakel I report to! He-he just gives me orders and I carry 'em out! We trade Z-tokens for zards; I gave him a huge shipment of tokens, and he gave me all these zards as payment! I haven't heard anything about any wind dragons!"

"Before you pulverize this man's body structure, turn on that grayish-pink organ in your skull, Brihart! Isn't it possible that someone else or some_thing_ else killed your friend?"

"Like what?"

Algrin grunted. "Clearly a human being such as myself isn't capable of tearing a dragon apart! Obviously something _bigger_ than me killed him! So maybe you should take your dirty paw off my body now?"

The flame dragon looked down at the human being and snorted with a small amount of smoke emerging from his maw. He easily could turn all of the knight's organs into pulp and all of his bones into powder. But as he looked down at the straining knight, he took Melzar's advice and used his brain. Algrin wasn't smart enough—nor was he savage enough—to murder Bluic so graphically. Even if he had killed him, someone must've told him to do so. And if that was the case, then whoever or whatever gave the order was who they needed to find. Brihart blinked and lifted his paw, allowing Algrin to catch his breath. The knight coughed a few times as he got back to his feet. He rubbed the dirt and filth from his chain mail and armor before looking at the dragons and scoffing.

"Yeah, you better let me go, you little bitch…"

Algrin shouted when he suddenly went flying through the air. He abruptly went silent when he slammed head first into a tree. The man collapsed to the ground and let out a soft groan as he passed out, unaware that Melzar just thwacked him from behind with his heavy, strong tail. The majestic guardian dragon shook his head.

"Guy's got a big mouth, I swear…"

Brihart huffed. "So we wasted our time. We put our lives at risk for nothing. Shit!"

"Not for nothing. Now we know that this attack _wasn't_ random. It had a purpose behind it: diversion, Brihart."

"Exactly. And we fell right for it!"

Melzar paused and blinked. "That may be so, but at least we know more now. There's Drakel out there who are up to something that can't be good. One of them must know how to tame or at least capture zards, and then he unleashes them out into the wild to cause havoc. All we need to do now is find some poachers or merchants who know about any Drakel who have been trading or transporting zards around Lore."

"That could take days, Melzar! Weeks even!"

"Patience, Brihart. Even the prettiest of flowers started out as nothing more than a seed."

"And even the prettiest of flowers can be crushed in less than a second if those who are supposed to protect it waste too much time dilly-dallying!"

Melzar shook his head. "I could spend all day talking to you in metaphors, but I'm sure you'd get bored fairly quickly. But let's face it: if we rush this, we'll miss something or make a mistake."

The red dragon scoffed. "Tch! No wonder Lore is always in danger. You guardians always piss away so much time 'thinking' and 'planning' instead of actually doing something."

Now the guardian dragon was getting very irascible over Brihart's behavior. "I know you are upset over your friend's death, and I'm sorry. Really, I am. But we guardians are destined to protect _all_ of Lore, Brihart, not just certain areas. The guardians and I are constantly busy each and every day fighting injustice to keep this world safe and in long periods of peace. We spend all of our time trying to prevent wars from igniting, and trying to stop massacres and genocides before they get out of hand. But try as we might, we can't prevent _everything_ from happening. We can't save _everyone_."

Melzar walked right up to Brihart and got in his face. "While we guardians are busy saving lives and preventing this world from tearing itself apart, you and your friends are doing…what, exactly? Having burp contests? Trying to cure your bad breath to impress a pretty dragon? Pranking innocent humans by sitting and farting on their heads? I do more good for this planet in one day than you do in an entire _month_. Maybe if you hadn't spent so much time living a carefree life, and actually saw the danger around you, you might've been able to prevent your friend's death yourself."

Brihart didn't say anything. He stayed completely sullen, unable to find the right words to say in order to excuse or justify his recent behavior. The flame dragon knew deep down that Melzar was right, but there was no way he could admit that. Bluic's death wasn't his fault. Clearly Melzar was trying to lay all the blame on him to excuse his own behavior. At least, that's what the flame dragon thought. But when he tried to think of something to say, he just blinked or kept his mouth shut. Melzar backed away and sat down, sighing heavily as he looked at the forest around him. Besides the deceased zards splayed across the soil, everything was at peace again. It would take some time to clean the area up, but Melzar knew that the crows and other ravenous beasts would take care of the mess for them.

"Now then, let's head back to the Guardian Tower. Perhaps someone there knows about recent Drakel attacks or traders in the region. If all else fails, we'll head to a K'eld and question the Drakel there. And we'll take Algrin with us in case we need to question him any further."

"Fine," said the petulant flame dragon.

Melzar heard faint grunting and noticed that Algrin was slowly starting to get back on his feet.

"Before we go though, mind taking care of that blowhard knight?"

Brihart turned around and saw that Algrin was back on his feet. The red dragon smirked, lowered his head, and opened his oversized mouth wide. Algrin was finally able to stand straight when Brihart exhaled and blasted him in the face with his hot stinky breath. The knight could hear the dragon exhaling as the fetid odor filled his nostrils and the hot gas swirled around his head. The knight groaned softly before he collapsed again, landing face first on the ground. The red reptile turned around and snickered as he kicked some dirt onto the knight with his right hind paw.

"Say what you will about me, but at least there's one thing I _know_ I'm good at: defeating my foes just by opening my mouth!"

Melzar grinned. "I suppose that _is_ something to be proud of."


	3. Darkness and Earth

_Darkness and Earth_

Darskin chuckled evilly as he stood on the edge of the cliff with his dragon brethren. Their prey were relaxing on the land below, laughing and joking amongst themselves, eating whatever food they had caught. The damaged one-eyed dragon sniffed the air before licking his choppers, detecting his prey instantly.

"How many?"

The darkness dragon standing beside Darskin hissed. "At least ten, Mighty One! Ten brave souls, ripe for the taking!"

Another darkness dragon descended from the skies and landed beside Darskin. She flapped some of the dirt from her wings before snorting and looking around the area again. "Make that twelve. There's two roaming the skies."

"Good job, sister! We must move quickly…Algrin Gannityre won't be distracting the Guardians for long. All these dragons must be dead before that can happen."

"And then what, Master? What do we do after that?" asked a jumpy flame dragon.

Darskin grinned and showed off his ugly teeth. "The Drakel, my dear Jellsin! We shall work on the Drakel next."

The flame dragon let out a loud giggle as he gleefully wagged his tail. "Sounds like fun, Master! Lotsa, lotsa fun!"

"Get our troops ready, Drooga. We attack soon."

The darkness dragon standing beside his leader hissed again. "Right away, Mighty One!"

As the darkness dragons got ready for their attack, the earth dragons on the ground were still laughing and stuffing their bellies. The only exception was the earth dragon with the heavy accent, Carsonlitov. He looked all around the area and sniffed the air constantly, growling as he sensed something malevolent in the air.

"Calm down, Carson! There ain't no dragonslayers around!"

Carsonlitov snorted. "Fat chance mate! We're stuck 'round Dragonstone Mountain! Wouldn't be surprised if Galanoth showed his ugly mug any second now."

Carsonlitov sniffed the air again and growled deeply. "There's somethin' very wrong 'ere…I smell it in the air!"

Carson's friend started to laugh. "The only thing you smell is that hot air comin' out your mouth! Maybe you should start eating more mint leaves!"

Carsonlitov, normally, would've retaliated by telling his friend that his breath wasn't so fresh either, or by burping in his face just to irritate him further. But this situation was serious; something or someone was hiding in the mountains, ready to slaughter them all.

"This ain't funny, Rengy! Something—"

Carsonlitov shouted when a large stream of dark black and purple dragon breath hit the ground beside him. The earth dragons immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up into the skies to see various flame, fire, and darkness dragons flying towards them.

"I told ya somethin' was out here!"

"Shit! Everyone! Get ready to attack!"

All the dragons in Carsonlitov's clan stopped what they were doing and got themselves ready. One of the black dragons opened up his paws like a bird, ready to dig his claws into an earth dragon. But the earth dragon quickly threw himself backwards and landed on his spines. His mouth wide open, the earth dragon blew out torrents of rocks and gravel with his powerful breath, hitting the black dragon's underside. The moment all the darkness dragons and flame and fire dragons landed on the ground, it was all out chaos. Earth dragons were flipping and jumping over darkness dragons, flame dragons were setting the ground on fire as they tried to fry their enemies with their breath, and the dragons in the sky were snarling and tearing away at each other in mid-air. Rengy and Carsonlitov fought at each other's side, making sure they didn't separate from the group in case anything went horribly wrong. Carsonlitov inhaled deeply before thrusting his head forward and letting out a gust of his rocky breath, pulverizing the black dragon standing in front of him. Then he lunged forward, snarling, his mouth wide open. He managed to bite the beast right on his face, grunting as he dug his teeth into the scales and flesh and left several marks on his ugly mug.

Two earth dragons were taking turns as they attacked a flame dragon. One of them was blowing his rocky breath at the dragon from behind, pelting him with the hard objects. The other dragon was jerking his body around and using his tail like a whip, slapping the red dragon in the face so hard that he knocked out some of the dragon's teeth. The flame dragon shook his head before roaring when the earth dragon behind him chomped on his tail. The flame dragon was about to take care of the menace when the other earth dragon pounced on him with his front paws opened up wide. The earth dragon quickly let go of the flame dragon's tail while his friend began to claw at the fiery dragon's face. That's when Drooga crept behind the earth dragon and jumped on top of him as well. The earth dragon roared and jerked his body upwards, thrashing around like a bull trying to knock off the stubborn bull rider glued onto his back. But Drooga grinned and dug his claws into the earth dragon's flesh, making sure he couldn't let go.

Elsewhere, Darskin was fighting the earth dragons as sadistically as possible. After exchanging a few blows with an earth dragon, he blew his darkness breath in his face and temporarily blinded him. The earth dragon shouted and shook his head, coughing a little bit. But once his vision was back, all he could see were vicious dragon claws heading right for his face. The earth dragon howled as he was suddenly blinded in his left eye. And only a few seconds later, another set of claws came for his other eye. And then all the earth dragon could see was darkness. He roared and howled in agony, flailing his body around as blood gushed out of the sockets where his eyes used to be.

"MY EYES! MY EYES!" he cried out.

Darskin didn't kill him just then. He grinned as he stepped backwards, watching as the earth dragon started foaming at the mouth, desperately trying to figure out where the coward who just blinded him was. He bumped into a few trees and snarled as he lashed at them with his claws. He stumbled over a boulder, shouting with fury because he thought a darkness dragon just tripped him. Darskin shouted when an earth dragon got on top of him and tried to tear off his wings, but Darskin was the largest dragon in the field. He snarled and spun his body around before jerking the earth dragon off with a powerful thrust. The earth dragon grunted and quickly got back up, only to realize that the blinded earth dragon was coming right for him, teeth bared.

"WAIT, DON'T—"

It was too late. The blind earth dragon went for the other gray earth dragon's neck and bit down hard. The other earth dragon didn't even have time to scream before his blinded companion tore out his vocal cords and jugular. Darskin watched the scene unfold with a hideous smile on his face before he noticed that the earth dragon that Drooga was attacking was now on top of him. Thinking quickly, Darskin grabbed a huge boulder with his mouth and threw it at the earth dragon. The boulder smacked across his face, breaking his jaw and knocking out a few teeth. As the earth dragon fell, Darskin immediately ran up to him and planted his right front paw on his exposed belly. Then he dug his claws deep into the scales, making sure they punctured the flesh. Shortly afterwards, Darskin ran his claws down the abdomen very slowly, watching as torrents of blood gushed out. The earth dragon shrieked as Darskin disemboweled him; he could've sworn he could see his entrails hanging out. After Darskin eviscerated the unfortunate dragon, he removed his claws and helped Drooga up. Neither one of the darkness dragons cared about the beast's cries. They simply walked away, leaving him on the ground, paralyzed and bleeding out.

Carsonlitov and Rengy were still fighting with all their might, but they could see that the darkness dragons were winning. Five of their clan members had been slain, and one of them was blinded and had gone berserk. But the earth dragons could see that their numbers were dwindling, and they fought even harder than before. The earth dragon dueling with the fire dragon in the air blew his rocky breath right as the fire dragon blew his fiery breath at his foe. Both elemental breaths collided, and the sky was suddenly filled with flames and giant chunks of flame-lit rocks raining down onto the ground. The dragons looked up and could see the debris falling down; most of them had to run and roll out of the way to avoid getting hit by the blistering hot rocks. One unfortunate darkness dragon got pelted in the head by one, leaving a nasty burn right above his eye. Carsonlitov used this to his advantage, as he tackled the dragon and lowered his jaw far. Then he bit down on the dragon's eye socket, clamping his jaw shut so hard that the eyeball exploded into his mouth.

Carsonlitov showed his enemies as much mercy as they did. He silenced the dragon quickly as he slashed his claws against his throat, and the darkness dragon quickly bled out. Meanwhile, Rengy was busy blowing his earth breath at a flame dragon. The rocks kept bludgeoning the unfortunate flame dragon, hitting her all over her face and eyes. Some of them buried themselves into the flame dragon's scales and flesh. The flame dragon quickly opened her mouth as she felt flames building up inside of her. But she opened her mouth so wide that Rengy wound up blasting several rocks into the flame dragon's maw. Her eyes grew wide as rocks the size of a human's skull soared into her mouth and quickly traveled down her gullet. Most of them got caught, and the red dragon started to cough and gag. She backed away and gasped multiple times, trying to breathe. She tried to blow her fire breath, but the only thing that came out her mouth was smoke and saliva. The dragon whimpered and suddenly stopped making noise. She fell to the ground, her body jerking around as she tried to make herself retch. But the rocks were jammed in her throat good, and she was slowly losing energy. After much struggle, the flame dragon choked to death and stopped moving. Rengy smirked, moments before a darkness dragon punctured his back with her left horn.

The fire dragon fighting the earth dragon in the sky was the victor; he slammed into his foe before both dragons spun around and fell onto the ground with a huge crash. Two darkness dragons and an earth dragon were caught up in the ensuing dust cloud that the descending dragons created. Carsonlitov and several other dragons started to cough violently, choking on all the dust. As the giant cloud cleared, the two dragons became clearer, and the darkness dragons could see that the fire dragon was on top of the earth dragon. As the rocky beast struggled to get free, the fire dragon pried open the earth dragon's mouth and grinned. The fire dragon quickly opened his mouth as he felt the flames building up inside his chest. He put his mouth close to the earth dragon's, looking like he was about to try and spit into his maw. Instead, he exhaled an extraordinary amount of fire into the earth dragon, the scorching flames burning the earth dragon's tongue as they soared down his throat. All he could do was swallow the burning flames in agony, his belly and chest glowing with a strange reddish-orange tint as he ate the flames.

There was nothing the earth dragon could do. He let out a few choking gasps before his body gave up on him. The fire dragon let go of his victim as smoke came out of his nose and mouth. On the outside, the dead earth dragon looked perfectly fine besides his glowing stomach. But inside, his tongue was black and charred, his vocal cords and trachea were burned to a crisp, and most of the organs inside his midriff were roasted and only fit for eating now. Rengy looked around the scene and panicked. Everyone was dead besides Carsonlitov and the blind earth dragon, who was now lying on the ground whimpering as he slowly bled to death. The hyper-active flame dragon Jellsin jumped on top of him and bit down on the back of his neck. Rengy howled in pain, before he stumbled and fell down, the flame dragon still on top of him panting and drooling. Carsonlitov was outnumbered. Rengy could see the earth dragon still putting up a good fight, struggling as darkness dragons took turns clawing at the gray beast with light purplish horns and spines around his back. Drooga blew a strong gust of darkness breath in the beast's face, stunning him. Before he could figure out what was happening, two dragons were lying on top of him and pinned him down too.

The chaos soon stopped. There were no more screams, cries of pain, and all the dying dragons had passed on into the afterlife. It was only Rengy, Carson, and the evil flame, fire, and darkness dragons around them. Darskin looked around the area and laughed mirthfully, knowing he had won this fight. Jellsin giggled as he licked Rengy's face, getting slobber all over his head.

"You're in trouble now, earth dragon! I can't wait to see what Master's gonna do to you!"

"Get yer slobberin' jaw out my face!" Rengy snarled.

But Jellsin didn't listen. He kept laughing and drooling all over his victim. Darskin approached the two earth dragons and smiled wickedly as he looked down at the both of them.

"What an intrepid performance your clan put up today! But it seems as though it was all for naught. You should've just surrendered the moment you dragons saw me. I would've given you all a quick death then!"

"Fuck you!" snarled Carsonlitov.

"Who the hell are you guys anyway?! Why'd you slaughter our entire clan?!" asked Rengy.

Darskin looked at the pinned earth dragon and casually walked over to him. "What are you talking about? I haven't slaughtered this entire clan yet!"

Rengy frowned. The massive black dragon walked in front of him and opened his mouth wide. He whimpered as he saw the beast's slobbery yellow teeth and smelled the rotten odor of his breath. Rengy tried to move, but Jellsin was too powerful, and the wound on his neck had slowed him down. Darskin moved to the side of Rengy's head and lowered his mouth very slowly. He waited until his teeth were around Rengy's head before he bit down on his skull.

"Shit! Carson, help me!"

Carson swore and snarled as he tried to fight against the two black dragons on top of him, but they had him pinned down good. For a brief moment, Carsonlitov managed to wiggle part of his body free, but one of the darkness dragons ended up pouncing on him before he could move any closer to his friend. Darskin bit down harder, his teeth digging into the earth dragon's scales. Rengy howled in pain twice and tried to break free, but Darskin was only biting down harder.

"Stop! STOP!"

But Darskin ignored the earth dragon's cries. Rengy shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. Various thin streams of blood began to run down his head and dripped onto the ground. Darskin's teeth had pierced into the flesh and were still working their way into Rengy's skull. Rengy let out a few whimpering cries before there was a disgusting crunch. Blood suddenly exploded from Rengy's head and began to trickle onto the ground. The earth dragon stopped making noises and stopped moving. Carsonlitov heard another crunch and knew that it was over. Darskin moaned and slurped as he tasted Rengy's blood. He eventually let go of Rengy and his limp head plopped on the ground, the eyes half-open and the jaw slightly lowered. Carsonlitov roared and snarled at Darskin, trying to blow his rocky breath at him and baring his serrated teeth at the beast. Darskin noisily licked Rengy's blood off his teeth and maw before he swallowed. Then he walked over to Carsonlitov and smiled.

"Looks like you're the last survivor! Tell me, how does it feel to know your friends have been slain so easily?"

"I'M GONNA CUT OFF YORE FRIGGIN' HEAD! I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR BALLS RIGHT OUTTA YER CLOACA AN' SHOVE 'EM IN YER EYE SOCKETS! YORE NOTHIN' BUT A COWARD AN' A SADIST! LET ME UP AN' WE'LL SEE WHO THE TOUGHEST DRAGON IS HERE!"

Darskin wagged his tail. "My goodness! Such a feisty little reptile, aren't you? Hmm…what to do with you…"

Darskin walked around in circles, listening to the earth dragon's furious swearing and pleas to fight the darkness dragon fairly. After a little bit of thought, Darskin walked over the earth dragon's head and turned around.

"A special dragon like you can't be killed so senselessly! No, you can't die like this…you must live with the shame of knowing you couldn't protect your clan and the stink of the beast who orchestrated their demise!"

Carsonlitov didn't notice that Darskin's groin was above his head until it was too late. The gray dragon heard a faint hiss and suddenly felt warm fluids splashing onto his face. He immediately closed his eyes and began to splutter as the musky fluids started to run down his head, some of which even got into his mouth. Darskin sighed with relief as he urinated onto Carson's face, the yellow waste gushing from his penis and hitting Carsonlitov with full force. Carsonlitov tried to jerk his head away, but after a brief moment, he gave up and shouted with defeat. The panting earth dragon lied still as the darkness dragon continued to pee on his head. When Darskin finished, he sighed again and turned around, looking at the darkness dragons who had him pinned down.

"Get off him."

"But-but, Mighty One! Won't he—"

"He's not going to attack me. That would be a very stupid thing to do."

Darskin lowered his head and got in Carson's face, grinning. "What you're _going_ to do is find all your friends and family, any dragon on this side of Lore you know about. When you find them, you tell them what I did to your clan! Tell them all that I, Darskin, the bringer of darkness and death, slaughtered an entire clan of earth dragons flawlessly and marked you like a common dog marking a tree! Tell them all to run and hide! Tell them to fear me!"

Darskin paused to laugh to himself. "When all your dragon friends are running and hiding from me, don't worry! They still won't be safe! I'm gonna hunt down all the dragons running from me and slay them all before they even get the chance to hide! There's nothing more satisfying than hunting down fleeing prey! All the males will be butchered! All the females and hatchlings will be raped until we have no energy left in us!"

Darskin settled himself down and exhaled, causing Carson to turn his head away when he smelled the beast's foul breath. Darskin raised his head back up and resumed talking.

"Unless they join me. If your cowardly dragons decide to join my clan, I shall spare them. I shall turn them into powerful beasts like me! You'll see…slowly but surely, my clan will grow! Together we'll thrust this world into utter oblivion and watch it all unfold piece by piece! And then, only then, will this world finally understand. You'll see…you'll see what I accomplish when no one is left to rule this world and I am eventually declared the King of all Dragons!"

Carsonlitov couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "…Yer sick in the head, you know that?"

"We're all a little crazy. Sane, civil creatures aren't capable of ruling a planet like this."

There was another long pause, then Darskin gestured for the two darkness dragons to let Carsonlitov up. They reluctantly moved off his body, and the shamed earth dragon grunted as he slowly got on all fours and took a deep breath. He looked at all the slain earth dragons around him, Rengy especially, and growled gutturally. He gritted his teeth as he approached the larger darkness dragon.

"Don't be an idiot. Even if you manage to slay me, my clan won't let you leave this place alive."

Carsonlitov grinned. "I ain't gonna kill ya, mate…not today anyways. You think yer so big an' bad with ya tough clan at yore side…but yer a coward. I can smell the stink of it deep within you. We'll see each other again, Darskin. I dunno when…but we'll see each other again _soon_. And when we do, the two of us are gonna have a rematch. Just you an' me. No one else."

"I'll be looking forward to that day. Try not to scream too much when I tear out your spine, will you?"

"So long as you don't cry like a bitch when I gouge out your eyeballs."

Darskin snorted. "Run along now, earth dragon. You have a message to deliver."

Carsonlitov knew he had lost. There was nothing he could say or do at this point to make up for everything that had just happened. So he turned around, defeated, the stench of Darskin's urine still fresh in his nostrils. Darskin's clan all watched as Carson limped away from the dragons and disappeared in the forest so he could deliver the message. After the earth dragon left, Darskin's sister quickly walked up to the giant black dragon and huffed.

"You're making a mistake, brother. You should've killed that dragon when you had the chance!"

"It would've been pointless. Besides, I enjoy a challenge! There would be nothing more delightful than to run into this dragon again while he's much more trained and able to fight me one-on-one!"

"But he knows your name! He knows that we're targeting dragons! They're gonna come for us, brother!"

"Let them. We'll kill them all anyway."

"But Darskin—"

Darskin snarled as he looked down at his sister. "I'm sorry, are you questioning my orders?"

"N…no, brother. But I—"

"Do you doubt my plans? Do you think we're going to fail?!"

"No! I'm just—"

"Good! The last thing I need is you of all dragons doubting me. So remove those reluctant thoughts from your mind!"

Darskin's sister closed her eyes and sighed. "Of course, brother."

The black dragon grinned and lifted his head back up. "Now then, off to K'eld Psivil! Leave the bodies of our fallen here. Everything must be exactly as is for my next phase to work. Come, dragons! The Drakel awaits us!"

Darskin spread his giant wings wide and began to flap them. His clan members did the same as well, and the fire, flame, and darkness dragons took off and soared into the skies.


End file.
